, 1887-02-25

her 5plnnlnS, and nothing was nedru In
the room but the light whirring of the
rolling wheel and the bubbling of the
water in the pot.
They ate v~oraciously, their mouths
spread to their widest extent in an effor.
TO swallow the more, and their round eyes
opening and shutting with every move
ment of their jaws. The noise they
made in swallowing sounded like the
gurgling of Il water pipe. As they were
thirsty as well as hungry, Berthine at
last descended to the cellar to draw them
come cider. To reach it she was obliged
to pass a low vaulted chamber or cave,
used, SO they said, during the revolution
as a prison or place of concealment. You
could only enter it by u narrow stairway
leading from the floor of the kitchen,
closed by a heavy door.
Berthine was gone a long time to draw
the cider, and when she reappeared she
was laughing-laughing softly to herself.
Soon the soldiers had finished their
supper and were nodding around the
table. Every now and then n head
would fall upon the boards with Il re-
sounding thud.
You al stretch yourselves by the
fire. If you like" said the forestiere,
kindly. Mother and 1 will climb to the
upper floor"
\ moment later u key turned in the
lock overhead-there was the sound of
footsteps on the floor, and then-silence.
With their feet to the fire and their
heads supported upon their ~knapsacks,
the Prussians were soon snoring loudly.
They had slept perhaps IN hour, when
suddenly there was the report Of n gun
shot, another and another, loud and
near. They lcaped to their feet Us the
door of the stairs leading to the upper
floor was thrown open and Berthine APP
peared, bare footed, half clad and wild
with alright.
1T is the French" she cried, ''at
least Il hundred of theml For the love
of God, go into the cellar and make no
noise; if you do, VIC are lostl"
Il will, l vill," the officer stammered,
bewildered and excited, ''but how can we
get DOWN."
She lifted the trap in the floor, disclos-
ing the narrow stairs, and tho ak men
quickly disappeared. When the brim Of
the last hat had vanished from sight,
Berthine replaced the oaken flap, US thick
as a wall and hard as steel, fastened it
with II monstrous bolt and began to
laugh again, to laugh like n maniac, as
she softly danced above the heads OF her
prisoners shut up in their box OF stone,
and as they had promised to be silent as
the tomb, knowing that they were per-
fectly secure and well supplied with air
through a vent in the wall guarded by a
strong iron grating, she gave herself no
further concern regarding them, but set
about replenishing the fire and the pot
OF soup in readiness for her fathers re-
turn.
1t was not long, however, before she
heard them stirring under her feet and the
sound of talking. Berthine listened; il
was clear that the Prussians were begin
ming to suspect the ruse and would soon
demand release. She was not mistaken.
for n moment later some one stumbled
up the winding stairs and began to beat
upon the trap with his fists. ''Open To
toor; open it, sayi" shouted tho voice
of the officer. "or I'll preak it inl'
"Preak it in, my good man." Berthine
= answered tauntingly, mimicking his
broken accent; ''preak it in, by all
meansl'' But the effort was useless; their
fists, the butt ends of their muskets and
all their kicks and poundings were pow
ciltoS Z iGACaSt tiitbi, tIdh " 81 otpot
enough to have defied a catapult. Con-
WINGED Of this at last, they again descended
and once more all was silence, broken
only by the ticking of the clock on the
mantei shelf. As the hands pointed to
the midnight hour a distant baying wac
heard in the forest and the young woman
arose and opened the door. The figures
Of n man and the two enormous dogs
were approaching across the snow.
do not pass before the vent hole,
father, - said she, as oon as he was near
enough to hear her; 'there are Prussians
in the cellar
'Prussians in the c%ellarl' Nicholas
Pichon replied astounded. ''Prussians in
the cellari What are they doing in the
cellar, child? Tell me, quick"
They are the same you saw yester-
day." she responded. They were in
the forest and are in the cellar now be-
cause l put them there" and she pro-
ceeded to tell him how she had frightened
them by firing of the old revolver and
then, through fear, Gagged them in the
unused prison hole.
LAS soon as you have eaten, father. ="
she continued, ''you must return and
bring the major commandment and the
troops; he will be very happy to receive
the prisoners
The old man agreed, and taking his
seat at the table eagerly consumed his
soup while Berthine attended to the dogs,
and twenty minutes from the time Of
their arrival they were on their way back
TO Rethel, the forestiere waiting alone.
The prisoners had once more com
menced their uproar, cursing. shouting
and beating their guns against the walls
of the prison hole. At last they began to
fire through the grating, doubtless hoping
to attract the attention of some passing
detachment which might chance to be in
the neighborhood. Berthine paid no at
tention to the noise, however, save tc
caution her mother to remain in hei
chamber; but a wicked anger took pos
session of her and she would cheerfully
nave murdered them, if only to keel
them quiet.
Her father had now been gone an houl
and u half. Surely he had reached the
city and the troops were on the way
She pictured to herself the air of prid,
with which he related the affair to thu
commandment, all fire and excitement n
he called for his sword and uniform
She even fancied that she heard thu
drums as they rolled through the streets
calling the citizens to the cold and bite